"The pills were needed so as to look voluptuous, especially around the belly and thighs. Since I am tall and skinny and my face is angular, not round, I had to take mild doses of hormone pills to look different,” Ranaut said recently. “Of course, I also started eating foods that promote weight gain."
She added, "Actors usually get the apparel and appearances on point but not the physical transformation. Our director AL Vijay wanted me to resemble Jayalalithaa as closely as possible. She endured a drastic physical transformation in her life."
Ranaut said Jayalalithaa had an hour-glass figure. "Having grown up as a Bharatanatyam dancer, she had an hour-glass figure. Then, when she joined politics, Jayalalithaa had an accident which demanded that she be injected with huge doses of steroids. While we could not depict all of that, we did take measures for me to resemble her during these phases."
Thalaivi brings Jayalalithaa's journey from being a stellar female superstar to a powerful political icon to the big screen. The first look of the upcoming film released over the weekend and received mixed response on social media. It is slated to release on June 26, 2020.
Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ